Young workers face more sexual harassment, feel less able to speak up

By Wendy Tuohy

12 September 2018 — 7:48am

Almost half of young Australian workers say they have been sexually harassed in the past five years, but less than one in five victims report it, with many too scared to speak out, a national survey has found.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said millions of workers are staying silent, fearing they would be accused of over-reacting and political correctness or, amid a “backlash against gender equality”, that nothing would change even if they did speak up.

She was speaking before Wednesday's release of the fourth national survey into sexual harassment in the workplace.

Young people are staying silent about sexual harrassment at work.Credit:Nic Walker

The "Everyone's Business" report will show harassment is "pervasive and widespread" with 33 per cent of people over the age of 15 saying they have experienced sexual harassment at work in the past five years, up from 21 per cent in the 2012 report.

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Almost two in five women (39 per cent), and one in four men (26 per cent) reported harassment, and Ms Jenkins said a “shocking” 45 per cent of 18- to 29-year-old workers said they had been sexually harassed in the survey period, yet only 17 per cent of people made formal reports.

“The young people [statistic] was the one that shocked me the most; this is absolutely tragic. It tells us we need to do more on changing systems as well as attitudes,” Ms Jenkins said.

The low level of reporting implied that “people, particularly young people, have accepted they have to tolerate this behaviour; it is just part of the workplace”, she said.

“Insecure work in the gig economy and the difficulty of students to get full-time work probably suggests students and our younger workers are in less-secure work and therefore more vulnerable, and less able to speak up."

Ms Jenkins said victims may be “accused of political correctness if they speak up; there’s also a backlash against initiatives promoting gender equality. [There is a] perception speaking up will lead to negative consequences even for bystanders.”

For the first time, the survey broke down sexual harassment by industry, finding 81 per cent of employees in the media and telecommunications industry said they had experienced harassment, as well as 49 per cent of those in the arts and recreation industry, 47 per cent of workers in the electricity, gas, water and waste services and 42 per cent of workers in retail.

The findings come on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the outing of producer Harvey Weinstein as a serial sexual harasser, causing a global outpouring of stories about predatory bosses, and as the Human Rights Commission embarks on its year-long national inquiry into sexual harassment in the workplace.

It also comes as Ms Jenkins says Australia is going through a “political #MeToo” moment for women that she believes will produce positive change.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins. Credit:Rick Stevens

Public conversation in the past fortnight about bullying of women in federal politics is "part of this momentum," Ms Jenkins said.

"[There is] a real sense that there is now a political #MeToo, an appetite to hear and think about these issues”.

“I do think those conversations could lead to a positive result; according to the World Economic Forum global gender equality measures, of 147 countries Australia does very poorly on women’s political empowerment.

“The perception has been this will change with time [which has not yet happened] but I actually think the conversations being had now in the public arena will cause change for the better.”

The number of women saying they had been sexually harassed at work went up 14 per cent between the 2012 and 2018 surveys, while the number of male victims rose by 10 per cent.

More than 90 per cent of perpetrators alleged to have sexually harassed women were male, and most male victims also said they had been harassed by men.

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“Women do harass, but four out of five harassers were men,” Ms Jenkins said.

She said that particularly thanks to the international #MeToo movement, in the past six months sexual harassment was starting to be recognised as a harmful and pervasive issue for Australian workers.

“I think whilst all those comments about political correctness still exist, there’s an understanding about what it [sexual harassment] is and its not OK. We’re on the cusp of change.”

She said the national sexual harassment inquiry would produce “a line in the sand” and hoped better prevention measures would result.